Be Thankful When He Assumes Power

Last night I was reading in Revelation 11. Verses 15-17 read:

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (16) And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, (17) Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.

In my limited knowledge of prophecy, I assume this is about the time of Christ's Second Coming to Earth at the end of the tribulation, when He sets up His physical kingdom on Earth. This is when "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ." Christ sits on the throne of David in Jerusalem and rules with a rod of iron.

What I want to consider today is the elders' reaction to this event. They first of all fall on their faces and worship God. Proper response! But then they say, Thanks. They recognize God as being He which was and is and is to come, but they say, Thanks, for what He did: "thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned."

When I first thought on this, I was reminded of Jesus' model prayer for His disciples: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The final answer to that prayer request is found here in Revelation 11. However, there is practical application for us today.

First of all, we recognize, and it is obvious, that God's will is not always accomplished on Earth. Otherwise, people, and especially His people, would have no more sin. At the same time, we see numerous examples in the Bible of God intervening in the affairs of men. He asserts, and He 'takes to Himself His great power' to accomplish His purposes. When He does that, it is a taste of what He will do in Revelation 11. Our response to this 'interference' ought to be:...

Secondly, when a Christian walks in the Spirit and not in the flesh, then the Christian is ruled completely by God. He is reigning in their lives. Again, our response ought to be:...

Thanks.

The elders' reaction to God's taking control was, Thanks. When we are totally trusting God and His sovereignty, then whenever we see Him intervening in the situation, or whenever we see Him shewing himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards Him, our reactions ought to be falling on our faces, worshipping, and saying, Thanks.

Just a thought...